Gaming

Riot Games’ Marc Merrill announced the layoffs, and spokesperson Joe Hixson shared the number affected with The Verge. The layoffs are focused on the League of Legends team.

“While team effectiveness is more important than team size, the League team will eventually be even larger than it is today as we develop the next phase of League,” Merrill says. Riot announced cuts affecting more than 500 people in January.

Then check out the full list of recommended specs, which were released today. (The game is also verified for Steam Deck!) On PS5 and Xbox Series X / S, Dragon Age: The Veilguard will have fidelity and performance modes that will target 30 and 60 fps, respectively.

The game will release globally at 12PM ET on October 31st.

Legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu has announced that Fantasian — a collaboration with Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi — will be his “final project as a composer of video game music.” Fantasian is finally coming to console and PC in December, but in the meantime, I’m going to be listening to “One Winged Angel” on loop.

The new playable documentary from Digital Eclipse will be released on November 12th, VGC reports. The title will include more than 15 games spanning 40 years of Tetris.

The EGM Compendium will chronicle the history of Electronic Gaming Monthly. The makers of the book are launching a Kickstarter for it today. The biggest backer goal? If reached, old EGM staffers would get back together to produce a new print issue.

The developer behind the Better xCloud script has found that Microsoft is already adding references to “stream your own games” to Xbox Cloud Gaming. I’m expecting to see this debut initially to Xbox Insiders next month, allowing you to stream your existing library of games to mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV sticks, and much more.

Disney Tron: Catalyst, a new title from Devolver Digital’s new Big Fan indie label, is an “all-new story-driven, isometric action adventure game.” The game is being developed by Bithell Games, the team behind the visual novel Tron: Identity.

Catalyst is set to launch in 2025 on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.

There are lots of free demos to try during the fest, which runs through October 21st. Personally, I’ll be checking out the demo for Windblown, the new roguelike from creator Motion Twin coming out this month.

Microsoft is holding a new Xbox Partner Preview stream on Thursday, which will include more than a dozen new trailers, new game announcements, and even a first look at Alan Wake II’s next expansion, The Lake House. The 25-minute stream kicks off at 10AM PT / 1PM ET / 6PM UK on October 17th, and you can watch it live on YouTube or Twitch.

The Go! Explore PSP GPS accessory for directions still works today, and even looks surprisingly modern, as Jon Cartwright shows in this Good Vibes Gaming video. He says it worked well.

But also, I never knew that Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops had a GPS feature! I miss that era of Sony.

“Junk Store has been approved for sale on the Steam Store!” its developers write — before pointing out Valve hasn’t technically approved the Epic Games Store and GOG game installer tool quite yet.

But why shouldn’t they? You can already add Junk Store to a Steam Deck with the Decky Loader sideloading system. I asked Valve; we’ll see!

I don’t know who needs to hear this, because that era of 3D platformers haven’t necessarily aged well — but I’m feeling some nostalgia well up anyhow! The three-game Tomb Raider collection is coming February (trailer below), while Jedi Power Battles (trailer here) is coming January.

Anbernic’s clamshell RG35XXSP may soon be facing some competition. Although a launch date for the Miyoo Flip still hasn’t been announced, the company revealed the folding screen handheld’s various colorways, including a version that matches the Super Nintendo. Unlike Anbernic’s clamshell, the Miyoo Flip will include a pair of joysticks, potentially making it a better option for playing 3D games.

The latest tactic in Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign feels directly inspired by TikTok’s Subway Surfers attention stimulation gimmick.

Tim Walz’s Arizona rally yesterday was broadcast on the campaign’s Twitch account in a split-screen view, with commentary and live World of Warcraft gameplay provided by streamer Preheat playing alongside it.

Applications for Nintendo’s mysterious online playtest filled up basically instantly. In our Slack, we were seeing that Nintendo reached its limit of 10,000 participants within a minute of opening at 11AM ET.

If you were trying to get in, hope you were one of the lucky ones!